DELBRUCK, RUDOLF VON, Prussian statesman (1817 1903), was born at Berlin on April 16, 1817. On completing his legal studies he entered the government service in 183 7 ; in 1848 he was transferred to the ministry of commerce. Both Germany and Austria had realized the influence of commercial upon polit ical union. Delbriick in 1851 induced Hanover, Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe to join the Zollverein; and the southern states, which had agreed to admit Austria to the union, found themselves forced in 1853 to renew the old union, from which Austria was excluded. Delbriick now began, with the support of Bismarck, to apply the principles of free trade to Prussian fiscal policy. In 1862 he concluded an important commercial treaty with France. In 1867 he became the first president of the chancery of the North German Confederation, and represented Bismarck on the federal tariff council (Zollbundesrat). In 1868 he became a Prussian min ister without portfolio. In Oct. 187o, when the union of Germany under Prussian headship became a practical question, Delbriick was chosen to go on a mission to the South German states, and contributed greatly to the agreements concluded at Versailles in November. In 1871 he became president of the newly constituted Reichskanzleramt. Delbruck, however, began to feel himself un easy under Bismarck's leanings towards protection and state control. On the introduction of Bismarck's plan for the acquisi tion of the railways by the state, Delbriick resigned office, nom inally on the ground of ill-health (June 1, 1876). In 1879 he opposed in the Reichstag the new protectionist tariff, and then retired definitely from public life. In 1896 he received from the emperor the order of the Black Eagle. He died at Berlin on Feb. 1, 1903.
See his Lebenserinnerungen 1817-1867 (2nd ed., 19o5), with an additional section on the events of 187o.